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Canadians planning to play hooky this holiday season

1 in 3 Canadians say they would leave work early to shop

TORONTO, Dec. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Is it 4 p.m. yet? If so, chances are a third of your coworkers could have already snuck out to start their holiday shopping! According to a recent survey from savings destination RetailMeNot.ca, over one third of working Canadians (37 per cent) say they would leave work early to do at least some of their holiday shopping. And it's no wonder they're packing up early - almost half of Canadians (41 per cent) admit they have not yet finished purchasing their gifts, leaving only a few weeks to make their list and check it twice.

"We know almost half (45 per cent) of Canadians find it hard to stay within their holiday shopping budget, and spending can easily spiral out of control amidst the hustle of the season," says Sara Skirboll, Shopping & Trends Expert at RetailMeNot.ca. "Shopping in a rush, or at the last minute, often leads to blowing your budget. RetailMeNot.ca can give the gift of savings during the holidays by helping Canadians find the deals on everything on their list, before they overspend."

Canadian men typically take their time purchasing gifts for the season. Almost half of Canadian men (48 per cent) admit to leaving a lot of their holiday shopping until the last minute. And even though spending has been top of mind for Canadians, fewer than half (46 per cent) shopped on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the time is now to take advantage of great deals.

Gifting go-tos:
When it comes to the top gifts and entertaining must-haves this holiday season, here's what Canadians are buying:

Clothing - Canadians are layering up with clothes this holiday! 30 per cent of parents ranked clothes as a must-have gift for their kids this season, with 67 per cent of parents marking clothing amongst their child's top three holiday wish-list items.

Toys - Next, 20 per cent of parents say toys are topping their child's wishlist and 42 per cent ranking toys amongst their child's top three holiday wish-list items.

Gaming - 14 per cent of parents plan to score gaming systems and video games for their kids and 37 per cent including it in their kid's top three.

Other Survey Findings: Big Spender Millennials

More than half of Canadian millennials (59 per cent) find it hard to stay within their holiday shopping budget.

More than half of Canadian millennials' (54 per cent) credit card bills from holiday shopping are often more than they anticipated.

Three in five Canadian millennials (62 per cent) anticipate doing more of their holiday shopping online this year.

Boxing Day Bargain Hunters:

More than 1 in 5 Canadian Millennials (21 per cent) have called in sick to work to take advantage of Boxing Week discounts.

74 per cent of Canadians say they avoid shopping malls during Boxing Day/Boxing Week due to the crowds.

About the survey:
From October 19th to October 21st and November 26th to November 27th 2018, 2 online surveys of 1,510 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Maru Voice Canada panelists were executed by Maru/Blue. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of 1510 has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been weighted by education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) to match the population, according to Census data. This is to ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

About RetailMeNot, Inc.
RetailMeNot, Inc. (https://www.retailmenot.com/corp/) is a leading savings destination connecting consumers with retailers, restaurants and brands, both online and in-store. The company enables consumers across the globe to find hundreds of thousands of digital offers to save money while they shop or dine out. RetailMeNot, Inc. estimates that approximately $4.4 billion in retailer sales were attributable to consumer transactions from paid digital offers in its marketplace in 2016, more than $600 million of which were attributable to its in-store solution. The RetailMeNot, Inc. portfolio of websites and mobile applications includes RetailMeNot.com in the United States; RetailMeNot.ca in Canada; VoucherCodes.co.uk in the United Kingdom; ma-reduc.com and Poulpeo.com in France; and GiftCardZen.com and Deals2Buy.com in North America. As wholly owned subsidiaries of Harland Clarke Holdings, RetailMeNot and Valassis, a leader in intelligent media delivery, are partnering to connect retailers and consumers through meaningful digital, mobile and print promotions both online and in store.